Automatic stoking mechanism.



D. T. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC STOKING MECHANISIVI.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. I9I3.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

D. T. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC STOKING MECHANISIVI.

APPLlcATIoN Iman DEC. 6. 191s.

raras@ DAVID '.l. WILLIAMS, -015A PATERSQN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, T0 STANDARD STOKER COMPANY, INC., ,OF WILMING'QN, DELAWARE, A.' CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE.

AUTOMATIC STOKING MECHANISM.

ni-saeea;

Application -led December 6, 1913.

To all whom t may concern Be, it known that I, DAVID T. WILLIAMS, a subject of the King of England,.residin at Paterson, in the county of Passaic an State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Stoking Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

lThis invention relates to automatic stoking mechanisms and the like andfits object is to provide an arrangement of elements*y whereby to accomplish the simultaneous advance of the Afuel and the reducing by presrlhe invention consists, further, in provid-y ing the bunker of a locomotive tender with a orward fuel-support including an upper movable portion and a lower rigid portion and associating therewith means to advance the fuel in a forward course under the support having a fuel-pushing abutment, the Xed portion of the support affording means against which fuel-reducing pressure. is eX- erted by said abutment while the fuel is being advanced.

rl`he invention still further conssts'inproviding, with a fuel supportingtrough and a rotary screw extendingl longitudinallyof and arranged' in said trough, an abutment plate coactive with the screw to .exert reducing pressure on the fuel, the same havin a recess receiving, and the `margin of s ai recessv close to, said screw and also `having its fuel-.abutment surface extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the ams of the screw. i 'In the accompanying drawings, wherein Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. t, i935.

serial no. 805,021.

the invention is fully illustrated, Figure 1 illustrates the invention in its preferred form applied to a locomotive tender, the parts appearing in longitudinal vertical substantially central section; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line m-m of Fig. l; and, Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of said second-named abutment. Y

The locomotive tender a; its coal-bunker or bin o having its bottom formed in part bythe forwardly inclined wall c and in part by the walls d inclined fromthe sides of the tender body toward the central vertical plane thereof, where they meet the upper edges of a centrally located, longi-V tudinally arranged, semi-circular trough e forming a part of the means whereby the coal is advanced from the bunker and fed to the re-boX of the locomotive; the screw f journaled in said trough in suitable bearings g; the forward deck or platform fr. formed with an opening i over the screw and provided with a removable cover j for said opening; and the hinged 'doors ar.-

`ranged at the back of the deck and forming a forwardsupport for the coal when the bunker is full, the same extending short of .the screw to aord access to the coal for hand-firing are or may be all substantially the same as in the improvements in automatic Astokers set'forth in my application Serial Number 802,906.

l designates planking removably arranged in suitable guides and adapted normally to support the bodyv of coal atV the lopeningy under the doors k. One ofthe bulkheads m in the water-space 'n of the tender forms a fixed front wall for the lower part of the bunker, being cut out centrally from its upper edge downwardly to` receive the trough e. To thisbulkhead, -in the preferred construction, I secure the aforementioned fuelabutment.` Referring to the drawings', and.l

particularly "Fig, 3, this consists of a st out metal plate 0 having a curvilinear openlng p formed in its lower edge and'provided ion one side thereof with the spurs or sharp lugs (y. This plate'is bolted atwise against the bulkhead m with its spurs or lugs proscrew, and to render it adjustable to and from the screw it is provided with vertical slots r through which the bolts s for secur ing it to the bulkhead pass.

is suliiciently small so that it will be reduced When the stoking mechanism is in operation those fragments of the fuel that are already properly reduced in size are carried forward by the screw in the trough in the usual manner, unaffected by the fuel-abut ment o. The large lumps, however, work toward the front of the bunker where they bank up against the removable planking Z and the abutment (which in the present case forms with the planking the forward fuel-support of the bunker.) l In-the rotary movement of, the screw they are in one way or another, according to theiresize and state of hardness and other conditions, reduced in size'by the coaction of the blades or abutments f of the screw f, as they act to push them forward, and the fuel-abutment o. The spurs q serve partly to split or cleave the lumps and partly to keep them in position to be crushed when once they have come within the coacting crushing influence of the screw and abutment o. If a lump istoo large at once to be reduced to fragments that will pass under the abutment o' the crushing resolves itself into a grinding away of the lump until it at a single operation.

Realizing the value of reducing the larger lumps of coal to a size that can be handled successfully in automatic stoking, thereby rendering it unnecessary to specially prepare the coal' previously to supplying it to locomotives, previous inventors have suggested various means, adjunctive to the stoking mechanism, for converting the coal to a uniformlysuitable size. These have generally proven unsuitable either because, if self-contained and separate from the stoking mechanism, they involved extra first cost and additional expense for upkeep, or because, if a part of the stoking equipment,

they did not efl'ectually accomplish the desired object, but were liable frequently to jam because incapable 'of disposing of certain lumps that were either too large or too hard to respond tothe crushing or breaking v action. Considerable practical use of my invention has demonstrated that,'witho1it' special4 equipment of any kind other than 'the abutment o or its equivalent, run of mine coal (to wit, coal as it comes from the mine, unprepared) may be handled without any interruption ofthe operation of the mechanism., this being obviously due to the fact that the elements directly concerned in the disrupting ofthe coal lumps attack each Y while .the fuel is being advanced in said course, the second-named means having a roughened fuel-abutment surface facing op- ?osliatcly to the direction ofadvance of the 2.. A fuel conveying mechanism for automaticv stokers including a fuel-supporting means over .which to advance the fuel'in a definite course, means to advance the fuel in said course having a fuel-pushing abutment operating in said course to exert reducing pressure on the fuel, and means beside said course against which vreducing pressure is exerted on the fuel by said abutment while the fuel is being advanced, the last-named means having a roughened fuel-abutment surface facing oppositely to the direction of advance of the fuel.

3. A fuel conveying mechanism for automatic stokers including means to advance the fuel ina definite c ourse having a fuelpushing abutment operating in said course to exert reducing pressure on the fuel and a plate arranged beside and in a plane transverse to said course and against which reducing pressureis exerted by said abutment on the fuel while the latter is' being advanced in said course, said plate having the surface thereof facing oppositely to the direction of advance of the fuel roughened.

4. A fuel conveying mechanism for automatic stokers including means to advance the fuel in a definite course having a fuelpushing abutment operating in said course to exert reducing pressure on the fuel and a plate arranged beside and in a plane transverse to Said course and against which re ducing pressure is exerted by said abutment Aon the fuel while the latter is being advanced 5. In combination, a. fuel bunker, said bunker having a forward support for the fuel including an upper movable and a lower rigid portion, .and means to advance the fuel in a forward course under said support having a fuel-pushing abutment, the lower rigid portion of said support affording means against which fuel-reducing pressure is exerted on the fuel by said abutment while the fuel is being advanced.

6. In combination, a fuel supporting trough, a rotary screw extendinglongitudinally of and arranged in said trough, and

also having its fuel abutment surface eX- tendng in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the screw.

. .In testimony7 whereof I aHiX my signature 1n presence of two witnesses.

DAVID T. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

JOHN W. STEWARD, WM. D. BELL. 

